US nuclear deal with Russia fails as tensions rise

Daivd Sanger

Washington: The growing confrontation between Washington and Moscow over Ukraine has derailed a recent accord that promised one of the most expansive collaborations ever between the countries' nuclear scientists, including reciprocal visits to atomic sites to work on projects ranging from energy to planetary defence.

It was only 11 months ago that US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, a former MIT professor who has championed scientific programs that would bury the Cold War competitions between the United States and Russia, went to Vienna to sign the agreement, an indication of how recently the Obama administration believed it had a chance of building on a quarter-century of gradual integration of Russia with the West.

Handshakes and congratulations exchanged with Dr Moniz's Russian counterpart, Sergey Kirienko, sealed an arrangement that would let Russian scientists into, among other places, the heart of the US nuclear complex at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, where the first atomic bomb was constructed 70 years ago, and a dozen sister laboratories devoted to the making of the US nuclear arsenal. In return, US scientists would be allowed deep into Russian nuclear facilities, including the birthplace of the Soviet bomb.

But now, the accord is on ice. Earlier this year, the Energy Department canceled nuclear meetings, symposiums and lab visits with Russia.

Daniel Poneman, the deputy energy secretary, said that Russia's annexation of Crimea in March had prompted the decision to freeze the accord.

"We've made it very clear that this is not a time for business as usual," Mr Poneman said Friday. He added, however, that the Energy Department continued to work with Russia on the security of atomic materials.

Last week, Washington accused Moscow of violating a major arms treaty on missile technology. After the negotiation of the modest New START treaty in 2010, progress toward another round of nuclear warhead reductions is dead in the water and unlikely to be revived during US President Barack Obama's term in office.